Why Suspect Lupin? (WAS: Snape, Lupin's Mistakes Again)

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 35138

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Laura Huntley" <huntleyl at m...> wrote:
> ELKINS SAID: 
> > "'They call it the Dementor's Kiss,' said Lupin, with a slightly 
> > twisted smile."
> 
> THEN EILEEN SAID:
> >"And at that moment, I was crying, "Harry! Harry! >It's Sirius 
Black! 
> >When will you realize?" "Slightly twisted." That is >awful.
> 
> Now, I am not going to try to deny for a second that Lupin Has Edge. 
 However, I interpreted that line in PoA to mean something entirely 
different.  Perhaps it's because I never thought that Lupin could 
>actually be Black (were we being led to believe this? there was a 
red-herring? *looks alarmed* I must've missed it. *depressed sigh* I 
>was never any good at fishing),

Yeah, I was a little disappointed at first that he wasn't. Though by 
that time I was so much in love with Lupin's character that I was 
fully prepared for the Sirius Black who I thought he was to be 
redeemed. :-)


 >but I always thought that the 
"slightly twisted smile" in question was not meant to be "twisted" in 
>a psycho-homicidal way, but in a grimacing, half-smile kind of way.  
As if Lupin were recognizing, in his subtle way, the irony of the name 
>(a soul-sucking black magic described as a "kiss"?!) and of the 
situation.  Also, when I went back and re-read the books, I figured it 
also having something to do with his internal struggle over the entire 
>Sirius's fate.  I mean, Lupin must've wanted justice for the Potters, 
but Sirius was also his friend, and the idea of the kiss being 
>administered to someone he had loved so dearly must have hurt as 
well. 
 Lupin seems to me to be the type of person to respond to such an 
>inner conflict with a melancholy, ironic smile. 

Well, exactly but it's still spooky. FWIW, I never got the feeling, as 
with Barty Crouch's "insane smiles" that it was psycho-homicidal. 
After all, since I thought he was Black, I was sure there was more to 
Black than we had previously discovered, though I was sure Black had 
turned in Lily and James to Voldemort. 

> ^_~ I think that if any of the Marauders were ever dismayed by any 
of the other Marauder's behavior/manner, it would Lupin wagging his 
>finger at Sirius.  Definitely not the other way around.

Wagging fingers is not Sirius's jurisdiction. Anyone (except for 
Harry) would laugh at it. :-) But, Lupin could creep out even his 
friends sometimes. He sure creeps out Harry. Add that to Pettigrew's 
meddling, and several suspicious events, and we've got a recipe for 
Sirius eventually suspecting Lupin.

> It's probably because Lupin is portrayed as quiet, thoughtful, 
sensitive, good with kids, and the like.  Whereas Sirius is, as you 
>said, kind of unstable, and Snape is just an... *coughs very 
hard*...you know what I was going to say.  Which one would you like to 
>be the "father of your children" (okay, that was sappy) and the like? 
 Although I stand by my conviction that Sirius IS turning into a 
>devoted, caring father-figure for Harry.
 
Exactly. Snape and Black are unstable. :-)

Eileen